Change system of governance

There is a basic formula to which our leaders seem to be oblivious: bad management + corruption + lies = poverty for the country. Successive governments have sought to disprove this basic formula over the years without any success. We can now unanimously agree that this formula holds true.

When you look at this formula within the context of globa-lisation and the subtle but growing loss of sovereignty by individual nations (especially those of the South), it becomes increasingly clear that successive Jamaican governments have been without vision for a long time. We are unprepared for the world we now live in.

The Government and the Opposition need to understand that the 'Third World' modus operandi for governance is no longer relevant and has no place in the present world reality. It was not relevant in the past either. However, leaders got away with it because of the ignorance of the masses, but to the detriment of our country.

Clearly, the Westminster style of government has failed us. The integrity that is presumed in this model does not exist in Jamaica and we have made a mockery of it here.

Publicly evaluated

When our leaders go to Parliament we want to hear clear analyses of our problems and definite plans of how we are going to solve them, with clear targets which are then publicly evaluated when the specified period ends.

Our leaders need to stop telling half truths and twisting facts. They need to respect themselves, Jamaicans and, above all, God. We need to have a proper system of accounting for the country's money in place, where information is available at the touch of a button. We cannot continue to manage in ignorance. We need to move expeditiously to have more data sharing and harvesting so that we can make informed decisions.

Times are rough but all hope is not lost. The greatness of the Jamaican people is on display every day in the arena of sports, education, culture and many others. What we need is our leaders to lift their outdated standard of gover-nance to match the greatness of the Jamaican people.